ALBANY: Ciminelli Resigns as Power Authority Chairman— Gov. George Pataki on June 28 announced the resignation of Power Authority Chairman Louis Ciminelli, who had served in the post since 2002 and as a NYPA trustee for 10 years. The governor also said the state Senate had confirmed the appointment of Elise Cusack, an Erie County legislator, to fill the vacancy on the Authority’s board left by Ciminelli’s departure. “I want to express my deepest appreciation to Lou Ciminelli for his leadership at the Power Authority in supporting New York State’s efforts to enhance the economy and the environment through forward-thinking energy policies,” Pataki said. Trustee Frank McCullough, Jr., NYPA’s vice chairman, will serve as acting chairman until the trustees elect a new chairman from among their members. Ciminelli will return to the management of his Western New York construction company, LPCiminelli Inc. Cusack, who was re-elected to the Erie County Legislature in 2003, had announced she would not run for a third term. She is a member of the Erie Niagara Regional Partnership and the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau. The governor also announced that Joseph Seymour, NYPA trustee and former chairman, has been reappointed to a new five-year term on the Power Authority’s five-member board.

WHITE PLAINS: Parks, CUNY Campuses Launch Green Zones—Various state and municipal parks and two City University of New York colleges are participating in an innovative Green Zones program sponsored by the Power Authority to improve air quality in clearly defined areas with electric and hybrid-electric vehicles and electric outdoor power equipment. The Utica Parks Department, the White Plains Recreation and Parks Department, Niagara Reservation State Park, Bethpage State Park, the Hudson River Parks Trust in Manhattan, Queens College and Bronx Community College are the first to sign up for the new multiyear initiative. The Power Authority has budgeted more than $200,000 this year for subsidizing the Green Zones’ vehicles and equipment. NYPA will work with each participant to identify the gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles and equipment to be replaced and will calculate the resulting emissions reductions and fuel savings. The participants will provide the Power Authority with data on the performance of the new vehicles and equipment.

BUFFALO: Low-Cost Niagara Power Attracts Capital Investment—Low-cost NYPA hydropower will help support nine new jobs and a capital investment of more than $350,000 at Surmet Ceramics Corporation here. Power Authority trustees on June 28 approved an allocation of 900 kilowatts from the Niagara Power Project to the producer of advanced materials and coatings, which is planning to refurbish its manufacturing space and install new equipment. The Western New York Advisory Group, consisting of NYPA, Niagara Mohawk, the Empire State Development Corp. and the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, had recommended the award of the economical electricity to Surmet Ceramics. The members of the group signed a memorandum of understanding in late 2003 providing for allocations of available Niagara power on a continuous basis. Since the agreement, the Power Authority has made allocations to 34 Western New York companies. Overall, Niagara power is linked to more than 43,000 jobs at over 100 companies in the region.

WHITE PLAINS: NYPA Plans Safety Inspections of Facilities— The Power Authority’s trustees on June 28 authorized electrical safety testing of all NYPA transmission and distribution facilities. The action came in response to a recent order by the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) requiring all regulated electric utilities in the state to perform annual safety tests of their publicly accessible transmission and distribution facilities and to inspect all of their electric facilities at least once every five years. “While NYPA is not subject to this order, our board believes it is important that public safety remains a top priority and that we have 100 percent confidence our transmission lines and distribution facilities are safe and secure,” said Eugene Zeltmann, NYPA’s president and chief executive officer. The testing, estimated to cost $300,000, will begin immediately. All the information and reports generated will be shared with the PSC. The Power Authority operates more than 1,400 miles of overhead transmission lines, and more than 14,000 transmission structures on public lands. NYPA also owns underground transmission facilities, and its various generating and substation facilities have electrical distribution equipment.

PLEASANTVILLE: Energy Services Project Aids Library— Reading the fine print is now a lot easier for patrons of the Mount Pleasant Library, thanks to new lighting fixtures installed by the Power Authority as part of a recently completed energy-efficiency project. State Sen. Nick Spano joined NYPA and library officials at the June 10 unveiling of the $43,000 upgrade, which replaced both indoor and outdoor fixtures. A portion of the project was financed with a $10,000 grant Spano helped secure from New York State’s share of federal Petroleum Overcharge Restitution funds, which are administered by NYPA. The Power Authority covered the remainder of the cost, which will be repaid over a 10-year period through energy savings from the project. NYPA staff members did an energy audit to identify the library’s potential for efficiency improvements and oversaw the lighting renovations. NYPA has completed more than 100 energy services projects at over 200 public facilities in Westchester County, saving taxpayers nearly $7 million in annual energy costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50,000 tons each year.

NEW YORK: NYPA Power Plants Called City’s ‘Maginot Line’— As the New York area approaches another summer of peak demand for electricity, small, clean generating plants installed by NYPA at six sites in the city and one on Long Island are serving as a “Maginot Line,” or first line of defense, against potential power shortages, NYPA President Eugene Zeltmann told a city power-supply conference in June. Noting that the city’s power reserve is just 330 megawatts and the margin for Long Island is even less, Zeltmann said the 461-megawatt combined output of the NYPA plants has made the “critical difference in supply” during heat waves in recent summers. The gas-fired power plants began producing electricity in 2001. NYPA completed the plants in only 10 months in response to warnings of power shortages that summer. Zeltmann said the plants have had a minimal impact on air quality as they are 80 percent cleaner than the next available power sources in the city.

In the Community: The Power Authority helped celebrate Independence Day by sponsoring concerts and fireworks at Astoria Park, Queens, July 1, and at White Plains High School, June 30….A NYPA electric vehicle was on display at Artpark’s Tuesdays in the Park concert, Lewiston, June 28, and at the Taste of Lewiston, a culinary-arts festival, June 26….Yorktown Height’s Dan Cappiello, NYPA’s manager, strategy and performance planning, was honored with other corporate volunteers at a luncheon sponsored by the Friends of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, New York City, June 23. Cappiello, the Power Authority’s Volunteer of the Year, was recognized for sharing his strategic-planning expertise with the American Red Cross’s Westchester County chapter and Westchester Community College, where he helped establish a center to provide educational and support services for foreign-born country residents.